|
| |
Mount Washington - Part 5
Written by: Stacey Stern
To take your family on a rustic adventure reminiscent of your own childhood memories, New Hampshire has all the best pieces to make a new trip down Memory Lane.
For lunch, we went to the Burger Meister Food Court. I had a roast beef and provolone hero, Amanda had ham and cheese, Sal had ham and cheese with onions, peppers, lettuce and tomatoes -- all freshly made while we waited. D.J. had chicken strips, which were so delicious, Sal and I kept picking at them. We all shared onion straws, French fries, cole slaw, and fruit salad. The food was very affordable and very good. Even the trash receptacles were in the fun spirit -- All the garbage pails were penguins in tuxedos.
After lunch, Amanda, D.J., and Sal went on the Reindeer Carousel, and D.J. cried when it was over. This year, a new show was added to the park, A Tinkerdoodle Christmas, in 3-D. The film lasted about 8 minutes, and was one of the best 3-D films I have ever seen. Amanda and I tried to grab all the things that "came at us." It was a lot of fun, and I had a nice opportunity to relax. Amanda and I went on the Old Time Car Ride. Amanda then went on the Pixie Mix and tried to slap our hands as she went by. She also went into the Village Volunteer Fire Department to play on the jungle gym. We went on the Skyway Sleigh Monorail, finally, after trying several times throughout the day. The lines were long so we waited until the end of the day when it was quieter. Then we went back to see Santa and took a picture with him, and over to The Sugar 'n Spice Bake Shop for a decorate your own gingerbread cookie.
Finally, we headed back to the Elfabet house with full cards for our prizes. The prizes were a coloring activity book, a spider ring, a puffy Santa sticker, or free popcorn. We stopped in to say good-bye to Elaine and thanked her for a wonderful day, and headed back to North Conway for dinner.
After we sat down at The Lobster Trap on West Side Road for dinner, the owner, Ellen Cuccio, came over, and we learned she and her husband Bill were originally from Long Island near where we are from. They moved to New Hampshire because Bill wanted the skiing. I ordered the New England clam chowder, which we all tasted. Sal had a salad with peppercorn dressing. For the main course, Amanda had a hot dog with fries, and Sal had the Lobster Fra Diavolo over pasta. I had a "surf and turf" which was a piece of steak with A1 and pieces of lobster in a dish covered in butter and bread crumbs.
Since it was still light out, we decided to drive up to Cathedral Ledge to see the view. We parked and walked a few feet down the path to the ledge. The entire ledge has a fence, so I was comfortable with Amanda walking around. The view was magnificent. We had been told the wall is used for training mountain climbers, and we did see two people climbing up an adjacent mountain. Amanda thought they were very cool.
Thursday morning, we were served by Alex, Eric and Robyn's son. We had French toast with sausage, pancakes with bacon, fresh strawberries, juice and coffee. Emily's cooking was just as good as the day before.
We packed up the car, checked out of the inn, and headed into town to the Conway Scenic Railroad. The railway offers a 55-minute trip to Conway, and a 1¾ hour trip to Bartlett. Sunset rides and dining car trips are available. We opted not to go on the train, as we were leaving for home and didn't want the kids to have to sit on the train and then in the car.
Instead, we went strawberry picking on River Road. Amanda decided we should take a large basket, and we were escorted to two rows of strawberry plants. Everyone helped, and in about 20 minutes, we had lots of fresh, beautiful, delicious strawberries to eat on the ride home and share with our friends and family.
We left North Conway about 12 and headed home. With several stops and some traffic along the route, we arrived home 9 hours later. Mount Washington Valley was a great vacation with something for all ages, and we look forward to returning soon.
Read part 1 | Read part 2 | Read part 3 | Read part 4 | Read part 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
